Biological therapy for cancer

Biological therapy involves the use of living organisms, substances derived from living organisms, or laboratory-produced versions of such substances to treat disease.

Some biological therapies for cancer use vaccines or bacteria to stimulate the body’s immune system to act against cancer cells. These types of biological therapy, which are sometimes referred to collectively as “immunotherapy” or “biological response modifier therapy,” do not target cancer cells directly.
Other biological therapies, such as antibodies or segments of genetic material (RNA or DNA), do target cancer cells directly. Biological therapies that interfere with specific molecules involved in tumor growth and progression are also referred to as targeted therapies.

For patients with cancer, biological therapies may be used to treat the cancer itself or the side effects of other cancer treatments.

Biological therapy (sometimes called immunotherapy, biotherapy, or biological response modifier therapy) is a relatively new addition to the family of cancer treatments that also includes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

Biological therapies use the body's immune system, either directly or indirectly, to fight cancer or to lessen the side effects that may be caused by some cancer treatments. They include monoclonal antibodies, cytokines, vaccines, bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy, oncolytic virus therapy, gene therapy, adoptive T-cell transfer therapy.

They act in the following ways.
• Stop, control, or suppress processes that permit cancer growth
• Make cancer cells more recognizable and, therefore, more susceptible to destruction by the immune system
• Boost the killing power of immune system cells, such as T cells, NK cells, and macrophages
• Alter the growth patterns of cancer cells to promote behavior like that of healthy cells
• Block or reverse the process that changes a normal cell or a precancerous cell into a cancerous cell
• Enhance the body's ability to repair or replace normal cells damaged or destroyed by other forms of cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy or radiation
• Prevent cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body

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